By Michael Angelo S. Murillo
Senior Reporter
THE University of the Philippines Lady Maroons thrust themselves back into the playoff picture in UAAP Season 81 with a five-sets victory over the University of the East Lady Warriors, 25-23, 20-25, 25-23, 24-26 and 15-11, on Wednesday at the FilOil Flying V Arena in San Juan City.
Tested by the competitive Lady Warriors, the Lady Maroons rose to the challenge to notch the win that improved them to 6-4 for joint fourth place with the University of Santo Tomas in the ongoing season of the University Athletic Association of the Philippines.
The teams split the opening two sets with UP coming from behind to take the first frame, 25-23, and UE bouncing back, 25-20, to claim the second.
UE took from its strong showing in the second to start third set, building a 5-0 advantage early and going up, 8-4, by the first technical timeout.
The Lady Maroons though would go on an 8-3 run after on the lead of Maris Layug to seize the lead, 12-11.
A back-and-forth ensued with UP eventually going up by the second technical break, 16-11.
UP created further separation after and went up, 20-16.
The Lady Warriors though continued to fight, narrowing the gap to just a point, 24-23.
But Ayie Ganbaban would give UP the set, 25-23, with a clean kill off a setup by Ayel Estranero to hand their team the 2-1 lead for the game.
In the fourth set it was UE which got off to a fast start with Meanne Mendrez leading the charge.
The Lady Warriors built an 8-5 lead by the first technical break.
UP caught up with UE at 15-all but the Lady Warriors beat their opponents to the punch, 16-15, midway into the frame.UE maintained control, 20-18, before UP made another push to level the count at 22-all.
The two teams continued to be tied at 24-all but UE was not to be denied a set win, finishing things at 26-24.
The fifth set got off to nip-and-tuck start before UP sprinted to an 8-4 lead at the exchange.
The Lady Maroons built a 10-7 separation after, then 12-9.
They would not look back after that and held on for the victory.
Marian Buitre led UP with 19 points with Tots Carlos adding 16 and Layug 15.
UE, meanwhile, was paced by Mendrez and Judith Abil with 23 and 22 points, respectively.
“It was not an easy game and we had to work for every point. A win is a win and we are happy we got the victory,” said UP coach Godfrey Okumu after their victory.
